acorns

[Yay Chicks!]

Interesting article on the historical use of acorns as food in California. It also has nutritional analysis.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c....doc+acorns+chickens&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Yay Chicks! :

Interesting article on the historical use of acorns as food in California. It also has nutritional analysis.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c....doc+acorns+chickens&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Good info there, thanks!​

 

[billfields]

A chicken gets hit on the head with an acorn! And then doesn't know what it was. And makes some huge assumptions and jumps to conclusions... You could probably write a story about that....oh yeah......

I'm not too worried about falling acorns---If the chickens will eat 'em that just treats from the sky.

 

[denim deb]

I don't know about boiling acorns for chicken use, but if you want to eat them, you need to change the water several times. As you boil the acorns, the water will change color. This is from all the tannin in the acorns. (There's not quite as much in white oak variety as in black, so it doesn't take as long.) When the water changes color, change the water. Do this until you get very little, or no change of color. The acorns can then be dried, and used in a variety of ways.

 

[Ohhhdear]

I remember my dad telling me about the substitute foodstuffs they used to eat during the Great Depression, and acorns were a big part of their lives. He and his sister and brother hulled bushel baskets of acorns, from all types of oak trees. Then they'd split them in half and boil the meat in the old copper wash boiler on the top of the stove, changing the water until it stayed clear.
The hot meats were put through the sausage grinder and made into meal, then dried in the oven. When the meal was dried completely it went through the coffee grinder at the finest setting. Dad said the flour was a little bitter, but very edible and filling. Grandma made pancakes, bread, and cooked it like a hot cereal. It also was a fairly decent thickener.

 

[CoupeDeVille]

Quote:
Yeah, just wait till the acorns start pelting the coop roof - and the birds, and YOU! - when they decide to fall. Some of those suckers are really SHARP when they hit you on the head! My poor birds live under a constant state of siege.

No kiddin !!
I built mine under an oak too, and all I hear is BANG onto the run roof all day and night ! Been waking me up thinking a predator is trying to get in..